If you wonder why I am majoring in Natural Resources, even though I am so focused on advocacy work, here is the answer: banana fiber pads. When I went to NC State for the first time to learn about Paper Science and Engineering, I was told a story about how banana fibers were being utilized to improve women’s lives around the globe. It was my first view of the College of Natural Resources and it helped me made the decision to attend NC State.
Chances are, you or someone you know surfs the crimson wave or gets attacked during Shark Week. Perhaps, you blame it on Aunt Flo or Mother Nature. However you like to put it, menstruation is a regular and healthy part of life for most women around the world, starting usually by the age of 13.75 years. Here at North Carolina State University, you can grab a few free sanitary pads or tampons from the Student Health Center bathrooms, or go to the local pharmacy to buy whichever type you prefer. From pantiliners to sanitary pads, tampons to menstrual cups, even period panties: the amount of options that you have to choose from these days is extensive.
All of these resources allow girls to go to school, go to work, and generally be able to go about their everyday lives during their menstrual periods. Invention has allowed menstruation to become simply an inconvenience. However, what about females in developing countries, who do not have access to these same resources?
In stark contrast to conditions in the United States and other developed countries, many women and girls miss days of school and work because they lack access to affordable and available feminine hygiene products and to restroom facilities. In order to try to make do without the appropriate resources, for example, females in India have used rags, pieces of mattresses, and even ashes to stop the flow of menstruation. These materials are unsanitary, can cause infection and disease, and are ineffective at stopping leakage. Many schools do not allow access to hygienic or private restrooms to change or to a clean water source, so girls stay home from school and, subsequently, fall behind in their education. This phenomenon is not unique to India, though.
Women and girls throughout nearly the entire continent of Africa are plagued by menstruation that they lack necessary resources to handle. For example, roughly 18% of girls in Rwanda missed an average of 35 days of school each year because they did not have access to pads or the funds necessary to afford commercial pads.
Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) is a social enterprise led by young women with the goal of manufacturing and distributing sanitary pads that are affordable, high-quality, and environmentally friendly to developing countries. The founder and CEO of SHE, Elizabeth Scharpf, first became concerned about the issue of women missing out on work and school due to menstruation in 2005 when she was an intern for the World Bank in Mozambique. During this time, Scharpf visited a sewing factory and asked the owner about how the factory’s efficiency could be improved. She was told that the greatest challenge was that female employees would miss work nearly 24 days of the year due to menstruation, given that commercial pads cost more than a day’s wages. To try to avoid missing work, women were known to use rags, tree bark, leaves, and even dried mud.
Researchers here at North Carolina State University, in conjunction with SHE, used their knowledge in the areas of nonwovens, wood and paper science, textile engineering, and medical textiles to work on developing sanitary pads that are made of materials readily available in local areas. Of all of the materials suggested, field tests run by Scharpf proved that fibers from banana stems worked the best, so researchers focused on using those to create sanitary pads that could be used in Rwanda and similar countries. Dr. Lucian Lucia, Dr. Medwick Byrd, and Dr. Hasan Jameel of the Department of Wood and Paper Science ran banana fibers through several chemical treatments and mechanical actions with the purpose of changing the fibers’ composition from coarse and waxy into soft and absorbent materials. The researchers aimed to keep their processes simple in order to allow the average person in a developing country to create these sanitary pads from banana fibers.
With the knowledge that these fibers could be made into affordable and available sanitary pads, Scharpf has begun working with over 600 small-scale banana farmers in Rwanda to supply, create, and sell pads within schools, using funding from private donors and the Ministry of Education in Rwanda.
The banana-fiber pad from SHE won the 2010 Curry Stone Design Prize, which is awarded each year to innovative projects that use design to address current social justice issues. That being said, many other organizations have begun similar projects, including Huru in Kenya, Jayaashree Industries in India, and Makapad in Uganda. This intersection of natural resources and social activism has allowed many women and girls in developing countries to have the opportunity to pursue work and education at the same rate as the men and boys. As this work serves to inspire others to champion the cause as well, the world begins to take great strides towards social equality. With the only true costs being goodwill and ingenuity in how natural resources are used, what other social issues will soon begin to diminish or be eradicated completely?
This is another post that was originally written for class, but I feel like the message is important for everyone to see.
Today’s mood song is one that has been playing in the back of my mind for some time now. I hope you all enjoy!